Home Lab Storage Suggestions!!

[sugarpeter21]

Hello Everyone,

I need some suggestion for the home lab storage.

I have a Synology DS718+ ( 2x2TB RAID) with Lenovo C30 running Proxmox.

 

Lenovo C30 Specs

2xE5-2640V2

32GB ECC Ram( ram upgrade planned).

Msata Drive for Proxmox OS

I have a 1TB 7200rpm and WD 320Gb 10k SATA Drive.

Quad port NIC

Nvidia K4000 PCI passthrough to a Gaming VM

HD6450 1GB for Server Video out.

 

Mobo has four SATA connectors  two SATA 6.0Gb/s (red), two SATA 3.0Gb/s (orange)

Three SATA connectors via integrated Storage Controller Unit (SCU) in chipset, SATA 3.0Gb/s, RAID 0, 1, 5 support. To use these SCU SATA ports I need a SASHDD enablement module which is expensive and not available that easily.

 

I am thinking to have a fast and reliable storage on Proxmox  which I can recover in case of failure and I have one Spare PCIe Gen 3 slot free too. 

I need storage as this server hosts a Syslog server, Firewall, Load balancer, Proxy, CSGOServer and Home assistant

 

I have 3 options in mind.( happy to be corrected )

1. Just add 2x 2TB SSD on Red SATA ports and make a ZFS Mirrored Pool and move the 1TB and 320GB SATA drive to Orange ports  ( cheapest way in my opining with fast storage)
2. Sell that Synology NAS without HDDs and just add 2x1TB SSD make a ZFS Mirrored Pool for Proxmox and then buy a LSI card and PCI passthrough to a TrueNAS VM and use the 2x 2TB HDD out of Synology for initial use and then scale eventually.( But there is no Space for adding more drives to the case)
3. Same as Point 2 but use Fractal Design define R6 case to store all the drives easily and more ventilation with potentially a bigger power supply ( currently C30 has 800W Gold + PSU)

 

This is all what I have in my mind, but happy to take a different approach, just want to keep it budget.

[Windows7ge]

I'd go option one. Use the existing 6Gbit/3Gbit interfaces and just move the drives around for whichever ones need more bandwidth.

 

For an LSI card I can recommend the LSI 9207-8i. I wouldn't recommend running TrueNAS in a VM since PROXMOX supports ZFS natively. You could setup users & network shares in a LXC Container and just mount that pool as a storage point.

 

Do keep in mind RAID isn't a substitute for proper backups. Backup all of your VMs & Containers to a network CIFS share or elsewhere.

[sugarpeter21]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

I'd go option one. Use the existing 6Gbit/3Gbit interfaces and just move the drives around for whichever ones need more bandwidth.

 

For an LSI card I can recommend the LSI 9207-8i. I wouldn't recommend running TrueNAS in a VM since PROXMOX supports ZFS natively. You could setup users & network shares in a LXC Container and just mount that pool as a storage point.

 

Do keep in mind RAID isn't a substitute for proper backups. Backup all of your VMs & Containers to a network CIFS share or elsewhere.

Thank you.

with option one shall I just use them as LVM or make a ZFS Mirrored pol ? 

 

I understand Proxmox can act as a network share, but coming from Synology i think i might need more NAS features and Do you know if Proxmox support DLNA ? 

 

considering SSDs will wear fast I am planning to run Syslog and other active writing on a non mission critical disk, Most of my VM are cybersecurity/Network security related which I can take backup of configuration and restore which I can restore in the event of a failure.
Fast storage will be mostly for Windows ,Ubuntu or Test VMs I want to make quickly and then destroy once work is done.

Do you think I should keep the Synology D718+ NAS ?? Also what would be ideal and budget setup in your opinion?

[Windows7ge]

If this SSD pool is going to be the primary storage for your VM's & LXC Containers I'd use ZFS. If you plan to install PROXMOX onto this pool I'd still use ZFS.

 

To use ZFS natively for File Sharing you would be limited to a CLI interface. Unless you used one of the TurnKey solutions. Also I have no experience with DLNA.

 

Use server SSD's if you're worried about life expectancy. Most normal operations wont burn up a SSD's useful life span. I can recommend the Intel DC or D3 series of drives. They have a much higher write endurance than desktop drives.

 

I would use the Synology for backup purposes. It's always good to have a separate network resource for backup of anything/everything.

 

Ideal & budget setup for what? The PROXMOX server or the Synology NAS?

[sugarpeter21]

5 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If this SSD pool is going to be the primary storage for your VM's & LXC Containers I'd use ZFS. If you plan to install PROXMOX onto this pool I'd still use ZFS.

 

To use ZFS natively for File Sharing you would be limited to a CLI interface. Unless you used one of the TurnKey solutions. Also I have no experience with DLNA.

 

Use server SSD's if you're worried about life expectancy. Most normal operations wont burn up a SSD's useful life span. I can recommend the Intel DC or D3 series of drives. They have a much higher write endurance than desktop drives.

 

I would use the Synology for backup purposes. It's always good to have a separate network resource for backup of anything/everything.

 

Ideal & budget setup for what? The PROXMOX server or the Synology NAS?

Perfect!

Poxmox is installed on a single MSata 120GB drive 

ideal & budget setup for storage  as I have less personal Data and more of these VMs storage/backup tasks on my hand to keep.

So two SSD's and a Synology Backup it is as per your opinion? 

[Windows7ge]

If all you're looking for is simple redundant storage and something zippy for your VMs RAID1 of some good quality SSDs and a couple HDDs will get it done. You can expand the storage later with more vdevs if you find you run low.

[sugarpeter21]

23 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If all you're looking for is simple redundant storage and something zippy for your VMs RAID1 of some good quality SSDs and a couple HDDs will get it done. You can expand the storage later with more vdevs if you find you run low.

which model on SSDs and HDDs would you recommend ? i am little new to Storage domain 

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 hours ago, sugarpeter21 said:

which model on SSDs and HDDs would you recommend ? i am little new to Storage domain 

How much do you want to spend for ssds? Id probably get something like a 860 evo. Or a used data central grade drive, like the intel dc ones.

 

FOr hdd, how big you want it? Id get some nas drives, or shuck some external drives.

[Windows7ge]

2 hours ago, sugarpeter21 said:

which model on SSDs and HDDs would you recommend ? i am little new to Storage domain 

This really depends where you budget permits.

 

For SSD especially if you plan on doing a lot of writes I'd go for the Intel D3-S4510 1.92TB. These have a write life expectancy of 6.5PB (Petabytes).

 

HDD's are a bit of a mixed bag for me. Personally I've worked with Western Digital RED, Western Digital GOLD, Seagate Ironwolf, and recently Seagate EXOS.

 

Western Digital RED & Seagate Ironwolf are geared towards NAS/Pro NAS use while WD GOLD & Seagate EXOS are geared towards enterprise/data-center use.

 

If you can find good deals on WD GOLD or Seagate EXOS grab em. If the prices are too much then WD RED or Seagate Ironwolf should do you just fine. Look for 7200RPM variants if you want a little more performance.